While visiting with business owner Sharon Hughes Saturday morning, I learned a wonderful story about the woman and her very capable crew that make Freeport Hardware a "true value" to the Freeport community. Sharon didn't want me to take her picture without including all the employees that make her company such a success. Candidly, she admits she couldn't operate Freeport Hardware without their fine customer service and their depth of knowledge about the products that she sells. Sharon and her late husband Mark ran the business for many years. Mark's life's dream was to own a hardware store. For years Sharon and Mark were climbing their respective corporate ladders as they moved about the country. It was hard on her family because they weren't able establish roots and strong ties to a community. Sharon described her life as fairly ordinary until she and Mark embarked on their small business journey of a lifetime. Mark and Sharon mortgaged just about everything they owned to start the business. I don't recall how many years they ran the business together before Mark contracted cancer and passed on. Sharon, alone at the helm at Freeport hardware, without seemingly any working knowledge of running a hardware store had some important decisions to make. I'm sure she had many a sleepless night wondering which direction to take with the business. But she forged on with the business and with her employee partners who keep the ship profitably on course. Sharon says she never goes home at the end of a day without learning something that is pretty cool about the hardware business. Sharon's expertise is in the area of finance and she mentioned working with such companies as M&M Mars and McGraw Hill in New York.
A native of New Hampshire, Sharon and her family regularly came to Maine during summer vacations in the Kezar lake area. Sharon and her husband were so glad that they landed in Freeport because she feels the residents are so wonderful and were so supportive when Mark passed on. She and I agreed that this town is a great community of both locals and people "from away". She has one son who graduated from Stonehill College in Massachusetts and is now working in Manhattan for Goldman Sachs. Given recent events on Wall Street, I'm sure he is helping Goldman Sachs chart a steady course through some pretty stormy times. One day, Shaon hopes her son will come back to Freeport. For more information, call 207-865-9557.
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